Dec. 15, 2004

GREENVILLE, S.C. -- Three Furman Paladins have been named to the 2004 Associated Press NCAA I-AA All-America team, which was released today.

Senior offensive tackle Ben Bainbridge earned first team honors while junior linebacker William Freeman and sophomore defensive end Roy Ravenell landed third team tabs.

Bainbridge, a 6-foot-6, 297-pound left tackle who earlier was named to Walter Camp All-America and Sports Network All-America squads, recently garnered the SoCon's Jacobs Blocking Award, which is given annually to the top blocker in the league. The Oklahoma City, Okla., resident, who played his high school football at Harrison (Ga.) High School, started in all 13 games this year and compiled a 90.4 blocking percentage on 802 plays. His work this fall featured 11 winning grades and two exceptional performances, including a career high mark of 2.03 (93.4 percent) in the Paladins' 31-24 win over Wofford. He earned starts in 36 consecutive games over three seasons.

Freeman, a 6-foot-3, 235-pound strong side linebacker, was a consensus 2004 Southern Conference Defensive Player-of-the-Year selection and South Carolina Player-of-the-Year choice by the Greenville Touchdown after headlining a Paladin defensive unit with a team leading 100 tackles, including 10 tackles-for-loss, five sacks, four pass deflections, and an interception. The Swansea, S.C., product, and second team Sports Network All-America pick, was named SoCon Defensive Player-of-the-Week a league best three times this fall in helping the Paladins pace the conference in scoring defense (16.6 ppg). He tallied career a career high 15 tackles against Gardner-Webb (28-6 win) and Pittsburgh (41-38 overtime loss).

Ravenell, a 6-foot-2, 240-pound product of Goose Creek, S.C., and Stratford High School, became the first sophomore All-America defensive player in Furman history earlier this week when he was tabbed third team All-America by the Sports Network. He led Furman with a team high 11 tackles-for-loss and seven sacks as part of a 75-tackle campaign in his first season as a starter. He also tallied a team leading three forced fumbles, three pass deflections, and an interception, and registered a career high 14 tackles in the Paladins' 29-22 win over then second-ranked Georgia Southern.

Furman posted a 10-3 record this year and claimed the program's 12th Southern Conference championship en route to a No. 2 final regular season national ranking.